Eli Cottonwood
| birth_place = River Falls, Wisconsin | death_date = | death_place = | resides = Minneapolis, Minnesota | billed = River Falls, Wisconsin | trainer = Steve Keirn | debut = 2008 | retired = }} Kipp Christianson (September 30, 1974) is a part-time American professional wrestler and former basketball player. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he wrestled under the name Eli Cottonwood. Christianson competed on the second season of NXT. His "pro" was John Morrison. He was the second rookie eliminated from the season. He returned to NXT in 2012. He was with Bray Wyatt for a short time. He asked for a release from WWE in June, 2012.On an independent wrestling show Christianson announced his retirement as a wrestler on July 10, 2014. In February 2016 on Facebook Christianson announced that he came out of retirement and can wrestle part-time only. On February 14, 2016 he wrestled at Independent promotion in Minnesota. Basketball career Christianson attended River Falls High School and later St. John's University in Minnesota. While attending St. John's, he averaged 20 points and eight rebounds, and in his junior season there, he led the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in field goal percentage. During his basketball career, Christian played in several countries, including Lithuania and China. He played in the International Basketball Association asnd Continental Basketball Association, for both Quad City Thunder and Sioux Falls Skyforce. He attended a camp for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1998, and played for the Dallas Mavericks team in the NBA Summer League. On March 16, 2004, he signed a contract with the Charleston Lowgators. Professional wrestling career Kipp Christianson began competing in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in 2008 under his real name. In August 2009, his name was tweaked to Eli Cottonwood, and he utilized a gimmick of being recently reintroduced to society from the Kelloggs Sanitarium. He spent most of his time defeating opponents such as DJ Gabriel, Tyler Reks, and Max McGuirk. He soon aligned with Aksana and turned face. On June 1, 2010, it was announced that Cottonwood would be part of the second season of WWE NXT, with John Morrison as his storyline mentor. He debuted on the June 8 episode of NXT, teaming with Morrison to defeat Titus O'Neil and Zack Ryder. Christianson's performance in the "Talk the Talk" challenge on the July 6 edition of NXT earned him a clip on the following episode of E! Television's episode of The Soup in the "What your Boyfriend is Watching" segment. Personal life Christianson graduated from St. John's University with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He is married to Tabatha, and they have a daughter Clover. He has a step son name Anthony from his wife Tabatha's previous relationship before marriage. Christianson owns half of an independent wrestling promotion Florida Hardcore Wrestling (FHW) In Palm City, Florida. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **Reverse chokeslam facebuster *'Managers' **John Morrison **Aksana (FCW) External links *WWE Profile *Online World of Wrestling profile *linkedin.com profile *NBA Development League profile *Kipp Christianson on CAGEMATCH Category:American wrestlers Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni Category:WWE NXT alumni Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:2008 debuts Category:1974 births Category:NXT season 2 Category:Wisconsin wrestlers Category:2012 retirements Category:Former basketball players Category:Living people Category:Male wrestlers